I read this Computer Audiophile CD Ripping Strategy and Methodology article and am trying to replicate the strategy using a Mac and the MAX ripping software
As per the article I want a FLAC archival copy and an AIFF working copy. I have gone through the settings of MAX which allow me to rip to these two different formats at the same time and to automatically put them into separate folders. Great!
I want to be confident that the FLAC archival copy has all of the metadata and album artwork embedded into the files and will allow me when necessary at a later time to accurately convert the files back into a CD and/or into other formats without loss of information and essentially making a like-for-like copy of the original CD.
Similarly I want to make sure that the AIFF working copy has all of the data actually embedded, and will display and play correctly on both iTunes, Audirvana and my Synology Diskstation using DS Audio.
To achieve this I have some suggestions as well as some questions about the settings in the MAX ripping software.
If anyone has the time to look through this and make useful comments, i will repost with the ultimate settings for achieving the Computer Audiophile CD Ripping Strategy and Methodology with a Mac and the MAX CD ripping software.
SCREENSHOTS:
What does this "automatically save disc information" refer to?
Moving onto the output FORMAT settings. These are my settings for FLAC but i cant change anything. Is there anything important here that needs to be done differently?
And here are my AIFF settings. Look ok? As you can see I´ve chosen 16bit as this is the format on CD´s. But if copying a FLAC file at a higher bit rate i gues i would have to go in and change this manually. Is there a way to set this automatically so that the file is encoded at the same bit rate as the source file?
Thus you end up with a FORMATS window that looks like this:
And moving onto the OUTPUT window, make sure you use the fileFormat precursor as highlighted below. This creates two folders when ripping, one for Flac and one for Aiff.
But what do the other settings mean? Do i need to change these?
Then there is the RIPPING window. I´m using the Basic Ripper because i haven´t found any evidence that supports using either of the other two options.
But what does the "Rip to a single file" actually do? Should it be selected?
Same question about the "Generate a cue sheet" option and the "Use SHA-256 for sector comparison" option.
I have left "Check for C2 errors" unchecked because im ripping brand new CDs at the moment. When i delve deeper into my old collection i will switch this on. Wize or not?
I assume this "Comparison Ripper Settings" section is the MAX equivalent of an AccurateRip section, because as far as i know MAX doesn´t use AccurateRip.
I´m assuming the Paranoia settings are ok to leave as default and actually have no effect because i´m using the Basic Ripper.
For the MUSICBRAINZ and TAGGING windows i´ve just left these as per their defaults below, any suggestions here?
In the ALBUM ART window I have ticked the "Save album art with output files" to make sure the artwork is embedded into the files. Correct?
PS - i did change the file format from TIFF to JPEG but im not sure if that was the right thing to do..
And finally the ITUNES window. I turned compatability mode on so the AIFF files would display properly in iTunes. But the left the add output files to iTunes library unchecked.
Looking forward to your thoughts and will repost the optimal MAX settings for this setup at the appropriate time.
Kind regards,
Kwigmyre
